Mutational analsysis of phage SP6 transcription initiation and a new transcription vector

Efficient in vitro RNA synthesis can be easily accomplished from cloned DNA using bactrio-phage SP6, T7 or T3 RNA polymerase. Despite its popularity as in vitro transcription system, molecular mechanisms of bacteriophage transcription has not been studied, although physical and catalytic properties of several phage RNA polymerases have well been documented (1). Only recently the T7 promoter has been physically mapped by footprinting of the T7 RNA polymerase (2,3). These simple phage systems, however, could be useful for detailed molecular studies of transcription.